Desk.



UNITED srn'rnswinrnnr onirica.

LOUIS SOHRAM AND DOMINIQUE KIES, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS; SAID KIES ASSIGNOR TO SAID SCHRAM.

DESK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 22, 1908.

Application filed. August 19, 1908. Serial No. 449,213.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, LOUIS SOHRAM and DOMINIQUE KIES, citizens of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Desks, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to an improvement in cabinets of the type in which a comparte ment containing pigeon-holes, shelves, drawers, or the like, is closed by a verticallyswinging door, which when closed forms the front, or a front-section, of the cabinet and which when open presents a horizontal or slightly-inclined ledge convenient for use as a desk or table.

Our object is to provide novel and improved means for mounting the verticallyswinging convertible compartment-closing door and table whereby, when open, it is supported in a manner to render it rm as a tale and whereby in opening it may lmove the compartment to a convenient forward position.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a cabinet or desk constructed with my improvements; Fig. 2, a broken section taken on line 2in Fig. 1 and showing the convertible compartment-closing door and table in opened position; Fig. 3, a section taken on the same line as Fig. 2 but showing the parts in closed position; Fig. 4, a broken and enlarged view showing the manner in which swinging links are secured to the convertible door and table; Fig. 5, a perspective view of one of the links and the means for attaching it to said convertible device; and Fig. 6, a broken and enlarged section taken on line 6 in Fig. 2.

The cabinet shown has sides 7, a lower compartment closed by a horizontallyswinging door 8, and a top 9.

10 is a sliding compartment which in the present instance contains pigeon-holes, etc., and a drawer. The sides of the compartment 10 are formed with the forward eXtensions 1 1, and near their lower ends theyT have shallow horizontal grooves 12 fitting over and sliding upon guide-cleats 13 fastened against the inner sides, of the casing or cabinet, 7.

14 is a convertible compartment-closing door and table hinged between its outer and inner ends at o posite edges to the projections 11. The 'nges 15 are fastened to the door 14, as shown in Fig. 1, and are bent at right-angles at their outer end-portions to fit in slots 16 in the ends of the extensions, the said end-portions being perforated to receive the pins 17 which pass through the said eX- tensions and produce the pivotal connection.

Links 18 are pivotally fastened at 19 to thc inner sides of the cabinet and are pivotally connected at their opposite ends to the ends of straps 20 fastened in recesses in the opposite ed 'es of the door 14. Thus the door is pivotal y connected at its rear or lower edge to the swinging links 18 and between its forward and rear, or upper and lower, edges to the sliding-compartment 10 at the extensions 11. The door 14 is of a size to eectively close the opening 21 in the cabinet in which the sliding compartment 10 is mounted. In closing the door 14 the compartment 1() is lslid back to the position indicated in Fig. 3 and the links 18 are swung down to the position shown in that figure. On the face of the door is a button, or the like, 22 affording a handle which may be grasped to open the door. As the door is swung downward to open it, its engagement with the links 18 swings them to the position shown in Fig. 2 and likewise draws the compartment 10 to the forward position shown in that figure. The door thus forms a table or desk top, the rear edge of which bears against the under surface of the compartment 10. rThe hinges 15 form a particularly stron@ support for the part 14 and the latter is heId steady by the swinging sup ort or links 18 and its engagement with t e under side of the compartment. As the part 14 is raised to close it, it swings upon its two pivots formed by the hinges and links, causing the latter to be swung down to the position shown in Fig. 3 and the compartment to be slid to its backward position.

The compartment 10 may, as shown and described, be formed with pigeon-holes, etc., characteristic of a desk, or it may be subdivided in any other way than that shown to give to the cabinet the characteristics of a desk, cellaret, or other article of household furniture.

It is obvious that the cabinet, as an article of furniture, may be variously modified in construction without departing from the s irit of our invention as defined by the c aim. Our main object being to mount the swinging convertible compartment-closing door and table in the manner described so that when shut it will effectively close the compartment and when opened it will form a stron steady and convenient desk-table, or the li e, our invention in its broad sense is not to be limited to the employment of a sliding compartment.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters'latent is- In a cabinet ofthe character described, the combination of a compartment mounted in the cabinet to slide horizontally and pro vided with forward extensions at its lower opposite sides, the cabinet having an opening in` its front with which said compartment i registers, a table, forming a door for said opening, hinged between its ends to the ends oi` said extensions to swing at its rear end when open against the under side of said compartment, and swinging links each pivotally connected at one end to the end of said 20 table and at its opposite end to'one side of the cabinet beneath the compartment, all constructed and arranged to operate substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

LOUIS SCHRAM. DOMINIQUE KIES.

In presence ofH A. U. THORIEN, R. A. RAYMOND. 

